Bad news - the chap I'm meeting is too busy re-organising his workshop to fit his new machinery into to come up this week.

Good news - the first half of the re-re-re-remodelled torso has cast perfectly on the first 'pull'! I took it out early so the spines were still bendy and didn't snap. Let's hope the mould lasts a good long while before it needs replacing - normally one would apparently expect 30 casts from a single mould, although the slilicon I'm using boasts that it lasts 3 times as long, so here's hoping... (mind, that's probably meant for simpler shapes, not ones with a lot of undercuts like this piece)

I've been posting pics as I go along on Facebook and Twitter as it's a lot easier than uploading them to my server and renaming them and stuff, I just pic them on my ipod and send them with a tweet, but here's the latest for those not on FB etc

Second one is the second half of the torso in the mould, with the base of the tail now attached as in previous casting attempts last year I found it changed size for some reason and didn't make a good fit with the body. It's not a 'Dragon Glory Hole' as someone suggested on FB...

I'll be very glad when I don't have to spend half an hour emailing individual replies to customers who don't read this thread, follow me on twitter or facebook, or subscribe to the Product Notification updates on the site. I could have cast a dragon torso in the time it takes...

Any resin stuff I sell in future will be sold on a 'I have this many actually in stock' basis and thus in batches not pre-orders...

With Salute coming up in ten weeks I am going to have to start casting up the metal stock for the show, so Dragon work will suffer. I have to spend the next few days catching up on the backlog of regular orders but hoping to get a mould or two made along the way in the next couple of weeks. Got 8 or 9 more to go before production casting can commence, but the above piece was the one that was worrying me most...

"...you describe yourself as an amateur. Don't forget that word comes from the French, meaning "lover of". In artistic endeavours the very best results come from those who love what they do, whether or not they get paid for it " -Bewildered Badger '07

BTW the paper towels are so essential - this process is one of the messiest things I've ever done and you have to wipe yourself and the worktops down every few minutes to mop up silicon that drips off the containers, or resin that missed the hole. I'm going through disposable gloves at a crazy rate, too.

Yes, the black dye - I bought a 1kg tub. It will last me the rest of my life I think.

BTW the paper towels are so essential - this process is one of the messiest things I've ever done and you have to wipe yourself and the worktops down every few minutes to mop up silicon that drips off the containers, or resin that missed the hole. I'm going through disposable gloves at a crazy rate, too.

The resin stuff I did I did on top of a ceramic tile that was ultra glossy. I guess a tabletop surface that was ultra glossy would work the same, after the resin had dried I'd just use a paint scraper (the type use for glass surfaces) to take the resin off, it leaves a bit of a mess for a while but comes off really easy. The silicone is a pain though, even after that has dried it has that static electricity stickiness to it as well as it's natural stickiness.

I splashed out on custom cut stainless steel sheets to cover the top of my workdesks which are made from adjustable shelving (and an actual workdesk) bought from machine mart. Doesn't stop me ending up covered in silicon etc but does mean it's easy to get off the tabletop...

I splashed out on custom cut stainless steel sheets to cover the top of my workdesks which are made from adjustable shelving (and an actual workdesk) bought from machine mart. Doesn't stop me ending up covered in silicon etc but does mean it's easy to get off the tabletop...

Made 6 more moulds over the last couple of days, still got to mould three sections of wings (tricky as they're so big and won't balance easily on the vertical or fit easily into my vac chamber) four bits of tail (probably do-able as one moulded sprue) possibly two hands (currently in metal, which I might keep them as for speed - i can spin up dozens of hands in metal in the time it takes to do one set in resin and the spincasting moulds last longer vs ripping) and the left arm, whihc rather annoyingly seems to have been misplaced in the last couple of months of moving dragon parts between sites. I've got metal masters of it that will do the job but I'd prefer the original sculpt.http://heresyminiatures.com/shop/images/large/dragon_morebitstomould8thfeb2014.jpg